2015 Reading

Miss Hazel taking a snooze

It's that time again! Since I've got a new little baby, I've been reading up a storm the past few weeks. As I jotted down some of the titles, I suddenly realized that I still needed to compile a list of all the books I read in 2015. (Here is a list of what I read in 2014; that post also contains links to the other years that I've posted this list.) So, without further ado, let's go ahead and talk books, books, books.


Fiction

• Whistling Past the Graveyard, by Susan Crandall (Excellent, excellent book. Read it! Definitely one of my favorite books from the entire year.)
• My Name Is Resolute, by Nancy E. Turner (I didn't like this as much as These Is My Words and its sequels; it was a little slow getting into it but by the end I quite liked it. I'm glad I read it.)
• Invention of Wings, by Sue Monk Kidd (Really good.)
• Gone with the Wind, by Margaret Mitchell (I read this as a teenager but just got in the mood to give it another whirl since I didn't even remember how it ended. What can I say? It's a classic for a reason.)
• The Bishop's Wife, by Mette Ivie Harrison (Hmm. Interesting read for sure. This is a murder mystery set in Utah; seems like she got a lot of inspiration from a famous real-life case. I don't necessarily agree entirely with her portrayal of Mormonism or Church culture, but she clearly tried to do a fair job of presenting it for a mainstream audience.)
• Light on Snow, by Anita Shreve (This was very engaging; I enjoyed reading it a lot. It brings up interesting ethical issues and there's no perfect solution, but it's super real and hopeful even though it's sad.)
• The Pilot's Wife, by Anita Shreve (Since this begins with a plane crash, it was maybe not the best choice to start on a flight, haha. I liked this one but not as much as the other Anita Shreve book I read. I started a third one but found it fairly unreadable and did not finish.)
• Go Set a Watchman, by Harper Lee (I'm glad I read this but I didn't actually like it at all.)
• Heart and Soul, by Maeve Binchy (Oh goodness. I read this for a book club and I just really don't like Maeve Binchy. Never again.)
• Emily of New Moon, by L. M. Montgomery (Montgomery is always good. I just felt like reading these books again because it had been so long.)
• Emily Climbs, by L. M. Montgomery
• Emily's Quest, by L. M. Montgomery
• A Tangled Web, by L. M. Montgomery

Madeline reading a book to Hazel

Non-fiction

• Call the Midwife: Shadows of the Workhouse (vol. 2),  by Jennifer Worth (These books are really well written. This one has some really HARD stuff that might make you sad though. This volume isn't really about babies/deliveries at all.)
• Call the Midwife: Farewell to the East End (vol. 3), by Jennifer Worth (Very good read.)
• The Happiness Project, by Gretchen Rubin (This was my second time reading it; I just love it.)
• Cleaning House, by Kay Wyma (Honestly, the writing is not swell. I like the approach she took to teaching her kids to work though; that part was inspiring and it helped me be a little more intentional about teaching my kids skills.)
• When Did I Get Like This? . . . Mothers I Swore I'd Never Be, by Amy Wilson (I'm having a hard time remembering this, but I'm pretty sure it was just a light, funny and enjoyable read.)
• Free-Range Kids, by Lenore Skenazy (I love the concept and theories here. It makes so much sense and there's a lot of good research presented here. The book itself loses steam; I think I read enough to have a firm grasp of things and maybe skimmed the rest.)
• The Family Romanov, by Candace Fleming (Super super interesting history! For the first time I finally got what happened to the czar's family and why.)
• Into the Wilderness, by Jon Krakauer (I really enjoyed this book. About 3/4 of the way through it got a little boring though.)
• The Lady and the Panda, by Vicki Croke (This was really interesting; it's about the first panda that was successfully made captive and brought to the United States. Once again it got a little boring about 3/4 of the way through.)

YA Fiction

• Nuts to You, by Lynne Rae Perkins (This is a really fun book. Madeline and I both loved it.)
• Navigating Early, by Clare Vanderpool (This book is so, so good! Read it! One of my favorites that I read all year, honestly.)
• The Adoration of Jenna Fox, by Mary E. Pearson (Super interesting premise; I enjoyed this one.)
• Rose Under Fire, by Elizabeth Wein (This is a companion book to Code Name Verity, which I read last year. I actually liked it much, much better than the other one; it's very moving. It's about a British pilot who ends up in a Nazi concentration camp.)
• Fish in a Tree, by Linda Mullaly Hunt (Awesome book!)
• One for the Murphys, by Linda Mullaly Hunt (This is also a super good book!)

We are ragged looking but happy! Reading together is a top activity right now.

Sarah Dessen (YA Fiction)
I've heard about Sarah Dessen for years and finally decided to read her stuff. The first book I read, I was totally blown away. It was awesome. So then I read everything that she has published, and most of it was awesome and some of it was just okay. In general, I think her later stuff is better than her earlier stuff. And whatever you do, don't binge-read her books because you might get a little depressed at all of the teenage angst and the bad choices and the drinking and whatever else. Dessen does a really excellent job at tackling different issues that teens face though.

• Lock and Key
• Along for the Ride
• Someone Like You
• That Summer
• The Moon and More
• Meet Me at the Moon
• Saint Anything
• This Lullaby
• Dreamland
• Keeping the Moon
• The Truth about Forever
• Just Listen
• What Happened to Goodbye

Newbery Winners
Once again I made some good progress with the Newbery books. The first three were re-reads; I decided I wanted to read them again as an adult to see what I think of them now.

• Julie of the Wolves, by Jean Craighead George
• The Whipping Boy, by Sid Fleischman
• The Witch of Blackbird Pond, by Elizabeth George Speare
• It's Like This, Cat, by Emily Neville
• Shen of the Sea, by Arthur Bowie Chrisman
• Call It Courage, by Armstrong Sperry
• Bud, Not Buddy, by Christopher Paul Curtis